American court does justice to an Iraqi who fell victim to Islamophobia

An American judge dismissed an American airline’s appeal against a lawsuit filed by an Iraqi citizen, who was taken down from one of the company’s planes in 2016 after one of the

An American judge dismissed an American airline’s appeal against a lawsuit filed by an Iraqi citizen, who was taken down from one of the company’s planes in 2016 after one of the passengers heard him speaking Arabic and thought he was a “terrorist”.

“Passenger Khairuddin Makhzoumi may have attempted to show that Islamophobia that comes in a sensitive political climate was a factor behind his disembarkation, and that what Southwest Airlines says about his disembarkation, is just pretext”.

“Makhzoumi can claim compensation from the airline for allegedly violating California’s federal and civil rights laws,” she added.

For her part, Makhzoumi’s lawyer, Zahra Bello, said: “The case is moving forward and we are looking forward to the trial.”

The next session in the case is scheduled for February 3.

 The accident occurred in April 2016 when the airline’s flight was preparing to take off from Los Angeles to Oakland, and Makhzoumi was a 26-year-old public policy student at UCSD speaking with his uncle over the phone.

Makhzoumi, an American citizen who arrived as an Iraqi refugee, denied speaking any threat words, such as “bomb, ISIS, jihad or martyrdom”.